1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic electronic component, for example, a multilayer ceramic capacitor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, mobile electronic equipment has been reduced in size. Many multilayer ceramic electronic components are mounted in the mobile electronic equipment. As the mobile electronic equipment is reduced in size, size reduction of multilayer ceramic electronic components is also required. Further, the multilayer ceramic electronic component, in which outer electrodes are located on both end surfaces of a multilayer body having inner electrodes, needs to be provided with a solder fillet, which extends like the foot of a mountain, between the outer electrodes and a wiring pattern so as to be mounted onto the wiring pattern of a circuit board. Consequently, it is necessary that a large wiring pattern be formed so as to include the area of the solder fillet outside the end surface of the multilayer ceramic electronic component. Therefore, the space for mounting the multilayer ceramic electronic component increases. However, as the mobile electronic equipment is reduced in size, in addition to size reduction of the multilayer ceramic electronic components, it is also required to decrease the space for mounting by decreasing the mounting interval between the components to be mounted on the circuit board.
Then, as shown in FIG. 7, in a multilayer ceramic electronic component 1, inner electrodes 2 are formed so as to become perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to a surface to be mounted onto the circuit board, and inner electrodes 2 extend to the outer electrodes 3 formed on the mounting surface. The above-described multilayer ceramic electronic component 1 can be mounted onto the wiring pattern of the circuit board by using the outer electrodes 3 formed on one mounting surface. Therefore, the solder fillets that extend outward from the end portions of the outer electrodes are not necessary, and the space for mounting the multilayer ceramic electronic component 1 can be decreases (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-289837).
In addition, as described in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Registration Application Publication No. 62-135427, a multilayer ceramic electronic component, in which not only outer electrodes are located on the mounting surface but also the outer electrodes are located on the surfaces orthogonal to the mounting surface, has been located.
However, it is difficult for the multilayer ceramic electronic components having the shapes described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-289837 and Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Registration Application Publication No. 62-135427 to sufficiently suppress the inclination of the multilayer ceramic electronic components because of, for example, the stress in wetting and solidification of the solder during mounting. Consequently, in some cases, the multilayer ceramic electronic component is inclined after mounting and, as a result, there is a problem associated with appearance and there is a problem that fixing strength is reduced in a certain direction.